1. Field
The disclosed technology relates to a battery pack, and more particularly to a battery pack having charging functions controlled according to status information.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In general, rechargeable secondary batteries are widely used for mobile electronic appliances such as cellular phones, notebook computers, camcorders, personal digital assistants (PDA) and the like. In addition, rechargeable secondary batteries are also used for electric vehicles such as e-bikes or e-scooters.
The secondary battery is fabricated in the form of a battery pack including battery cells and a battery management system, and charging or discharging of battery cells are performed by an external power supply or an external load through external terminals in the battery pack. In addition, the battery management system measures values of a voltage and a current, controls a protecting operation of battery cells based on the measured data, calculates a state of charge (SOC), and transmits processed information to the external system.
In a case of an e-bike or an e-scooter, current variations occur abruptly within a very short time. For example, city driving can entail frequent start-stops in traffic. Thus, in order for a battery management system to accurately calculate a battery capacity and to perform protecting operations at the right time, current monitoring should be performed at a high enough frequency to account for current variation in the e-bike or the e-scooter. However, a single chip formed in the battery management system generally implements control of the protection of battery cells and calculation of battery capacity. Thus, if the time for current monitoring is shortened, a current measurement load increases, so that other functions of the single chip cannot be performed. In addition, if the single chip is damaged due to a high current in a high-power system such as an e-bike or an e-scooter, functions of protecting operations and battery capacity calculation may not be possible.